Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
“Eroticism! Kinkiness! Sacred-cow-skewering! Groin!” — New York Times
La Cieca
Bitter? A tad.
A willfully ignorant old queen turns up his nose at something he hasn’t seen: “idiotic…. third rate.” In other news, dog bites man. [NYT]
Overture! Light the lights!
This is it, cher public, the big night… and you’ve found the place to be. The traditional (that word again!) yakfest during the Met’s opening night festivities will take place here at parterre.com from 6:00 pm until the curtain falls. Members of the public attending the event proper or the various HD relays are invited […]
de Niese: I never said it
Danielle de Niese has emailed blog A Liberal’s Libretto insisting that she was misquoted on her now-notorious “elephants” one-liner.
Meet here at 6 for Tosca chat
See the new posting that will appear at 5:45 pm entitled “Overture! Light the Lights!” — this will be your official one-stop location for tonight’s chat during the Met’s Tosca.
Ecco un artista?
An old clip, but worth repeating: Gina Lollobrigida plays Lina Cavalieri plays Floria Tosca in La donna più bella del mondo.
Grey lady meets dark lady
A video glimpse of the new Tosca, from the New York Times. The wig needs some major cleaning up.
Celebrate!
Two days ago, Thurdsay, September 17, marked a new peak for parterre.com. On that day, you, the cher public, viewed the site a total of a whopping 18,323 times — the highest number of pageviews on a single day ever recorded! La Cieca suggests you all treat yourselves to Champagne, and your doyenne may just […]
Composer’s intentions
Following up on her rant in an earlier thread, La Cieca now proposes the debate continue on the perhaps not perfectly defined issue of “composer’s intentions.” After the jump, discussion material.
Flan club
La Cieca thinks the following is among the most obnoxious puffery things ever written about an opera singer, and it’s surely the worst bit in the tongue bath the New York Times Magazine gives Danielle de Niese:
Sirius schedule, printable form
In response to readers’ requests, here’s the 2009-2010 Met Sirius/XM broadcast schedule, in printable form.
auld lang syne
Today La Cieca prepares to usher in the New Year in the way that has been traditional among her people for thousands of years…
This divette sounds like that divette
Obviously, Danielle de Niese is all about the singing, or, anyway, all about the slamming bod, and then the singing. But she does talk from time to time, and when she talks, she sounds strangely familiar.
First fragmentary reports begin to trickle in
[SPOILER ALERT! MAY CONTAIN DETAILS YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE BEFORE YOU ATTEND THE PRODUCTION!]
Whaddyacallit
She’s been dubbed “The Beautiful Voice,” “America’s Soprano,” “Opera MILF,” “Ney-Ney,” and now “The People’s Diva.” If there’s anything Renée Fleming doesn’t need, it’s another, whaddyacallit, another sobriquet. And yet, La Cieca does not consider need when she’s feeling generous, so she has decided that it is time to create yet one more nickname for […]
Met broadcast schedule, 2009-2010
Presenting just for you, cher public, the complete Sirius/XM Metropolitan Opera broadcast schedule for 2009-1010. Performances on dates highlighted in bold will also be streamed via RealNetworks from the Met’s website. Season premieres are marked with (P). Obviously you are going to want to chat about some of these broadcasts, so let La Cieca know in […]
Heilige Kunst
What, you ask, is “Kunst?” I’ll tell you what Kunst is. Kunst is appearing on the stage of the Paris Opéra at the age of 53 wearing ballet flats, mom jeans, a Wal-Mart top, and a wig from the Evelyn Lear “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” wash ‘n’ wear collection. That’s what Kunst is. (Waltraud […]
Met Tosca: a first glimpse!
Don’t ask La Cieca how she obtained these photos of the Met’s new Tosca production, because if she told you, she’d have to kill you. Suffice it to say that admirers of Karita Mattila will not be disappointed!
Vicar aghast at codswallop
“Italian opera has never been more popular. It has also never been in greater need of Italian voices. No matter how good the alternatives, a home-grown voice, properly schooled, transforms the sound of Verdi. It is not just the diction or timbre. It is the tradition . . . . Nicholas Hytner’s staging … remains […]
Wags will tongue
Members of the cher public (pictured) will, La Cieca hopes, be happy to hear that the annual Opening Night Chat will transpire here at parterre.com once more on September 21. Discussion of the Met’s Tosca and (more to the point) whether Margaret Juntwait will be able to corral Blythe Danner into another gabfest will begin […]
“mi” a name to call herself?
Just texted to La Cieca: Am at Philharmonic dress. Her Messiaen was luminous. Far the best thing I’ve heard her do. Which is excellent, brava, you go on like this. But, La Cieca being La Cieca, you know she is going to harp on this little gem: Known as “the people’s diva,” she continues to […]
Gateway divas
Here’s an entertaining essay in which the author acts as a sort of Netflix queue algorithm for pop music fan who think they might want to dabble in the hard stuff. [Time Out New York]
Curious? George.
A hint of what George Gagnidze‘s Scarpia may sound like. Tre sbirri…
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).
Win a Free Ticket to Opening Night at the Met!
Quinn Kelsey and Lise Davidsen star in the Met's new Macbeth. We're giving away one ticket, so screw your courage to the sticking place and enter now!
